Rapids Drop a Head-Scratcher to Vancouver

Colorado came out on the wrong side of the scoreboard for the seventh straight time in 2018 after once again dominating in statistics but falling short on finishing more than one of many chances at goal. The first half was basically the telling frame as the Rapids had the advantage in possession, sent in a whopping 15 crosses, and attempted 6 corner-kicks to no avail. Meanwhile, Vancouver used numbers-fueled counter attacks to score twice on three shots and very little offensive threat other than that.

“We didn’t deal well with the counter-attacks,” said Colorado Head Coach Anthony Hudson who looked visibly exasperated in the losing streak. “When you’re on a run like this, we’re frustrated, but at the same time as disappointed as we are I feel very calm in knowing this will turn. We’ve seen enough evidence in these games-I don’t know how many crosses, how many final balls in the box-so it’s going to turn for us.”

Defender Tommy Smith echoed much of that sentiment, especially with the fact that he was in position to place more shots on target being counted on as a big body in front of goal on set-pieces. “It’s extremely frustrating because I pride myself on being able to chip in with a few goals a season but hopefully there’s one not too far around the corner.”

On the night, the Rapids had a plethora of opportunities to utilize the size of Smith, Axel Sjoberg, Dominique Badji, and later Danny Wilson on one of the 12 corner-kicks and 28 crosses into the penalty area. “If we’re getting the shots off we’re getting in positions to (score),” said Smith, who still is not giving up by any means on the season. “Credit to Vancouver, they pulled off a couple of good blocks, we’re creating chances and one of these days they’ll go in and we’ll get the three points.”

Another bright spot, besides Edgar Castillo’s long-distance blast for Colorado’s only goal, was the return of midfielder Johan Blomberg. The Swede was named Man-of-the-Match for his efforts over 62 minutes, as he and Sam Nicholson wreaked havoc on Vancouver down the attacking right side especially in the first 45 minutes.

“We just did the runs we do on the practice pitch,” admitted Blomber, who returned after missing time since late April at Real Salt Lake. “It’s not rocket science,” he laughed. “We just make the runs and try to put each other in good positions putting the crosses in and it worked very good in the first half. It was a little bit tighter in the second half, but we still created a few chances.”